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Thursday, September 03, 2009

Schooling with Rachel

For the faithful who showed up at Saratoga today, it was obvious the main attraction was Rachel Alexandra, who schooled in the Paddock at around 3:00 pm. As evidenced by the photo above taken by yours truly, the fans were standing 4 deep at the paddock gate.

I will say this, this horse is very impressive looking. She has that rare look that a truly great athlete has, that look of always being ready to compete. She looked fantastic in the Paddock, walking calmly around like she owned the place. I'm sure her current winning streak will end eventually, but she does not look ready to lose anytime soon.

Alan at Left at the Gate hits all the right notes on his blog regarding attendance for the Woodward in his post titled "I'll Take the Under".

Thus far this week, attendance has been disappointing despite 3 days of crystal clear blue skies without a speck of humidity. Monday brought 10,006 out, Wednesday had 10,983 and today had 11,809.

The forecast will be fantastic for Saturday, so NYRA can't blame the weather. I just think too many of the out of towners are long gone and the walk up sales on a Labor Day weekend can only increase so much, even when a Curlin or Rachel is running. The attendance will be good, just not crazy good. Curlin brought in 22,572 last year. Throw in another 10,000 for my guess of 32,572 fans who will witness the Rachel walkover.